Hello! I’m Dr. Cecilie Vale, and I’ve been slowly conducting a research project about whether a capsuleer’s childhood influences their choice to become a capsuleer. I am hoping to gather as many interviews as I can before progressing to a full research paper! I was making this post to see if anyone would like to participate? I can put the questions here and you can either message me or post here, if you’re not shy abut your answers. Anyone who messages me privately will have their answers kept in the strictest confidence. Also, I am available for face-to-face interviews, should anyone wish!

Thank you for your time!

Where were you born?

What did your parents do, if you know? Were they capsuleers or baseliners?

How old were you when you became a capsuleer?

What is your main source of income as a capsuleer?

Do you consider yourself loyal to any particular faction?

How would you feel if you were told you couldn’t be a capsuleer anymore?

Baseliners, mother was an accountant, father was a geotechnical engineer.

35, much older than typical.

Trading in Jita

While I’ll always owe a debt of gratitude to CBD for raising me and offering me many years of employment, I don’t see myself working for anyone but myself from now on. Needless to say, I’ll always be loyal to the State.

Like a god made mortal

I would probably go back to trading securities on the Kimotoro Stock Exchange

Yes, no satisfaction like being able to do what I love every day for the rest of immortality.

Uncertain. Agriculture backwater in the Empire. There are a few potential candidates, minor uprisings and slave-liberation operations recorded, but sufficiently fragmented and inconclusive that I can never be certain.

What did your parents do, if you know? Were they capsuleers or baseliners?

Faithful and devout slaves in the Empire. No idea if the genetic prerequisites of capsuleerdom were active or merely latent in them.

How old were you when you became a capsuleer?

Unknown. My age is approximated to currently be mid-thirties. Graduation during mid-twenties.

What is your main source of income as a capsuleer?

Currently too complex to cover in entirety, which is fairly common for veteran capsuleers. Over a decade’s career, I’ve earned my way through all the possible paths, including mining, wetwork, industry, bounty hunting, and so forth. Currently working as a mercenary, but the simple fact is that once you’ve come this far you will have accumulated enough assets and wealth, interests and connections that your wealth simply grows all on its own as your assets increase in value and isk devalues. A thousand little streams of income, few and rare expenses and money just… happens.

Do you consider yourself loyal to any particular faction?

I am Mizhara Del’thul. ‘of/from the Isle of Thule’, which is the Gripdjur clan’s name for those adopted from beyond the sea of stars. My loyalties are to my clan, to my tribe, and all my kin still in shackles.

How would you feel if you were told you couldn’t be a capsuleer anymore?

Furious at losing that toolset that could be applied to achieve objectives. Relieved that the unbelievable responsibility unbelievable power demands have been removed from my shoulders. Resigned when I then inevitably pick up a new responsibility and keep going forwards. No rest for the weary nor the wicked in New Eden.

What would you do if you weren’t a capsuleer?

The exact same thing as today, with less assets and tools at my disposal.

Are you generally happy in your day-to-day life?

We soar too high, too far, too fast to be able to pretend the ills and cancers of New Eden aren’t ever-present. We have to intentionally blind ourselves to them if we are to ignore them. I am unwilling to do so, and thus “happy” is out of reach barring a sudden bout of moral and ethical bankruptcy.

I’ll settle for the few happy moments I occasionally find. Better yet, the happy moments I can provide my freed kin. Those are far more important, in the end.

Would you change anything in your life?

If I did, it wouldn’t be my life anymore, would it? Good or ill, successes and failures, joys and wounds, all make my life mine. No, changing any of those would change who and what I am. I know balance. It is sufficient.

Is there anything else you’d like to say that we’ve not covered?

Volur, Terrorist, Scholar of the Accords, of the Shifting Snows, Mercenary, Exile, Pathfinder, Vocalist, Pianist, Gunslinger, Cyborg, Gripdjur, Scrub, Ofridr, take your pick. I am named many things by those who choose to label me. I wonder if any of them will ever encompass that which I am?

Baseliners. Father was in the military, now retired. Mother was a teacher and researcher in the biochemical field.

Twenty years old.

Gassing in the dark of space, a little industry and exploration, bounties on Sleepers and pirates.

I’m loyal to Origin, my new home. I’m nonetheless loyal to the State as it is my birthplace and the Navy as they gave me the training and the bases for where I am now.

It would be hard being unable to fly like I do now, unable to do things I feel part of my day to day routine. But then, I think I would settle in and came to enjoy the “slower” pace of a baseliner life.

I would keep running my Resort and probably work as part of the Origin infrastructure.

I’m in general happy with my day-to-day life. Some days not at all but that’s how life go, an endless stream of ups and downs.

1) Where were you born?
Sertene-Nauon, a city on Thebeka III in Ardishapur Domain, Amarr.

2) What did your parents do, if you know? Were they capsuleers or baseliners?
Baseliners. We were slaves. My mother worked in financial accounting for our lord, and my father was a technical manager.

3) How old were you when you became a capsuleer?
28 when I received my license.

4) What is your main source of income as a capsuleer?
Mostly sale of military hardware acquired through service to the 24th Imperial Crusade. Nowadays, licensing fees and investments planetside.

5) Do you consider yourself loyal to any particular faction?
Amarr, specifically House Ardishapur.

6) How would you feel if you were told you couldn’t be a capsuleer anymore?
I don’t know. If it was part of a broad removal of the capsuleer class, I’d be pretty happy. If it was individually just me, I don’t think I would care as long as I could keep my previous earnings.

7) What would you do if you weren’t a capsuleer?
I don’t know.

8) Are you generally happy in your day-to-day life?
I get by.

9) Would you change anything in your life?
I don’t know. There are many times that I wish I hadn’t been freed.

10) Is there anything else you’d like to say that we’ve not covered?
No.

I’m not sure, really! I was an orphan, and after being adopted I was raised mostly on stations throughout the Empire, so I guess i’m from space!

2. What did your parents do, if you know? Were they capsuleers or baseliners?

My birth parents I have no idea, but I imagine they were Gallente. My adopted father is a traveling monk of sorts, I suppose, I’ve never really thought too much on what he does other than be my father and pray and hand out datacards of scriptures. He too is a Capsuleer.

3. How old were you when you became a capsuleer?

Not to brag, but I graduated at 17 and a half. It’s amazing how much studying can be done when you have no friends or social life.

4. What is your main source of income as a capsuleer?

I primarily am a miner and researcher. Gathering and creating things is what I do best, and I’m glad to be able to make a living doing so.

5. Do you consider yourself loyal to any particular faction?

I am a Loyal servant of the Amarr Empire.

6. How would you feel if you were told you couldn’t be a capsuleer anymore?

I would feel confused. You can’t just not be a capsuleer anymore, can you?

7. What would you do if you weren’t a capsuleer?

I’d try to be a researcher, but having a lifespan would be detrimental to my work.

8. Are you generally happy in your day-to-day life?

I like to think i’m happy. I get distracted easy sometimes, so it’s hard to dwell on sad things!

9. Would you change anything in your life?

I think I would have liked to grow up on a planet. Growing up and adapting to ships and stations in space has left me with a bit of a phobia of wide open spaces. I feel very vulnerable and exposed when planetside, and prefer to be in citys.

10. Is there anything else you’d like to say that we’ve not covered?

Different doesn’t always mean bad. God works in many forms and mediums, It’s up to us to realize them all.

Aboard the Moon III station orbiting FDZ4-A VIII, way out in Geminate. About 6 months through my Mom’s pregnancy, there was a nasty accident and I had to finish growing in a test tube - but things turned out just fine in the end.

2. What did your parents do, if you know? Were they capsuleers or baseliners?

Mom’s a Research Specialist back out in Geminate, and Dad flies all over with an exploration & salvage crew - he’s been a capsuleer for years, but my Mom only decided to go for it more recently after Alpha clone tech simplified the process.

3. How old were you when you became a capsuleer?

21 years old, going by YC - I’ve aged my clones up ever-so-slightly over time, though. There’s a certain charm that comes with age, though I don’t go so far as many Amarr do.

4. What is your main source of income as a capsuleer?

A hefty amount of exploration, some through the market, and I’ve been raking in a good amount of ISK through the Exoplanets iteration of Project Discovery lately. Beyond that, Hive expeditions provide a small ISK boost, and I occasionally join fleets to fend off Sansha’s Nation for a sizable payout from CONCORD.

5. Do you consider yourself loyal to any particular faction?

Not in particular - many capsuleers seem to develop a disconnect from the separations of empires once they’re granted immortality, and I was raised outside of those separations to begin with. If anyone, I’d possibly say the Society - but there’s not one group in the cluster that doesn’t have its share of secrets and scandals.

6. How would you feel if you were told you couldn’t be a capsuleer anymore?

Like all of my limbs were removed, frankly - how awful would it be to attain immortality, only to have it taken away? There’s no stronger feeling of freedom than the one that comes from having total control over the vessels we pilot & the ability to go anywhere we can reach, with no fear of nonexistence if we should be killed.

7. What would you do if you weren’t a capsuleer?

Likely much of the same stuff. I doubt my curiosity for the mysteries of the Jove, Sleepers, Drifters, and many others would be any weaker - I’d just have to act on those curiosities from a safer distance.

8. Are you generally happy in your day-to-day life?

Definitely - I’ve got more than enough ISK to support a luxurious lifestyle for a very long time, a family that hasn’t suffered some grand tragedy like many other capsuleers’ seem to have, and I’m among colleagues who’re just as interested in exploring the mysteries of New Eden and Anoikis (and making ISK) as I am.

At the same time though, there’s a certain disconnect that comes with immortality. Sometimes it almost feels as if I’m just playing a very intricate game, day-to-day - though if you’d call this life a game, it’s definitely an entertaining one.

9. Would you change anything in your life?

Not much, though more ISK is always good- and I’ve got a strong yearning for more opportunities to uncover the Drifters’ true nature in the nearest future.

10. Is there anything else you’d like to say that we’ve not covered?

Not particularly~ Though questions concerning capsuleer interpersonal relations might be fun - immortality can make for some interesting relationship dynamics.

2. What did your parents do, if you know? Were they capsuleers or baseliners?
My mom worked as a house slave, about my father I don’t want to talk.

3. How old were you when you became a capsuleer?
23

4. What is your main source of income as a capsuleer?
I sell stuff I find in space, or on stations.

5. Do you consider yourself loyal to any particular faction?
I’m loyal to those who are kind to me.

6. How would you feel if you were told you couldn’t be a capsuleer anymore?
I don’t know, is that even possible? I’m not sure about the long-term effects of using the same clone body.

7. What would you do if you weren’t a capsuleer?
That’s a choice I never had. But if I could choose then I would like to be just a normal person, with a husband to love and two little children. Just living a normal life.

8. Are you generally happy in your day-to-day life?
No. I miss my family and mortal friends.

9. Would you change anything in your life?
Like not becoming a capsuleer? Bringing my mom back to life? Telling my friend, that he was the best man in my life while I had the chance to do so? - Sometimes you are looking for something, without noticing, that this what you are looking for is right beside you. And you only see it when it’s too late.

10. Is there anything else you’d like to say that we’ve not covered?
Like my lucky number? It’s a secret!

Become a Capsuleer. Or, if that is absolutely out of the question, somehow learn to be happy as just a titled, landed, and wealthy noble who would probably still be able to manage some form of functional immortality.